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Vert 3 - Brief outline of Film Theory
1.
2. Classical Film Theory
Film criticism and theory is an essential part of cinematic
history
It was not until after the First World War that two groups of
film theorists began to emerge
The first of these groups was spearheaded by Sergei
Eisenstein, whose film-making and theoretical essays in the Segei Eisenstien
1920’s established the concept that the role of cinema was
a purely an aesthetic one -
The second group was the German surrealist film makers
These groups believed in the manipulation of reality:
They used image and cinematography to manipulate reality
and disregarded other aspects of cinema
3. Bazin
The ‘Montage’ and ‘Expressionist’ schools remained
dominant until after WWII
It was not until the 1950’s that any challenges to existing
film theory emerged
In his essays ‘The Evolution of the Language of Cinema’ &
‘The Virtues and limitations of Montage’ Andre Bazin
Bazin argued that
overturned existing conceptions of film and claimed that the camera
allowed a
“Cinema’s true purpose was the objective representation filmmaker to
of reality” capture and
duplicate reality;
He argued that cinema offered the first chance of a That cultural /
completely objective representation of reality for the first personal ideology
time in history did not transfer in
to the film itself
4. Cahier du Cinema
Andre Bazin’s theory was short-lived as political upheaval
occurred in France 1968
Bazin’s style of film criticism, based on the aesthetic
function of cinema, became outdated and film studies The Wildcat general
became indisputably political strike led to a more
politicised and
“There was no place outside or above politics; all texts, ideological form of
whatever their claims to neutrality, had their ideological slant” cinema in France
Lapsley & Westlake; 1988
For the first time filmmakers and critics were forced to consider the
relationship between Ideology & Power, and Cinemas role within this
relationship
This new politically centred film criticism was developed by two French
Journals ‘Cahiers du Cinema’ & ‘Cinethique’ (monthly film journals
published in France)
5. Cahier du Cinema
The authors of Cahiers’ Jean-Louis Comollu and Jean Narboni
were heavily influenced by Karl Marx
They saw film as a product that becomes a commodity which is
“also an ideological product of the system, which in France
means capitalism” Jean-Louis
Comollu
“The classic film theory of cinema that the camera is an
impartial instrument which grasps, or rather is impregnated
by, the world in its ‘concrete reality’ is an eminently
reactionary one. What the camera is fact registers is the
vague, unformulated, un-theorised, un-thought-out world of
the dominant ideology. Cinema is one of the language
through which the world communicates itself to itself. They
constitute its ideology for they reproduce the world as it is Jean
experienced when filtered through its ideology” Narboni
6. Cinéthique
Cinéthique took a more hard line view of cinema and stated that
“all films were hopeless victims of the ideology of their ruling
class and had to be rejected entirely
What do you think cinema is?
Do you think it is a mirror of reality?
7.
8. Sigmund Freud
Psycho-analysis is a psychological theory developed by Sigmund Freud
in the late 19th century
He developed the theories of Psycho analysis as a study of the
unconscious mind
He claimed:
“In order to function in our lives we actively repress
various desires, fears, memories, and fantasies. Hence,
beneath our conscious, daily social interaction there
exists a dynamic, active realm of forces of desire that is
inaccessible to our rational logical selves “ Sigmund Freud
1856 – 1939
The father of
He claims our unconscious is active in our dreams, in modern
slips of the tongue and forms of artistic activity Psychoanalysis
9. The Unconscious Mind
As in dreams, films also deal with fantasies and
desires and as such they can be considered
analogous to dreams and qualify as manifestations of
the unconscious
Theorists argue that a film makers unconscious 1. Comparable in
certain respects,
desires and fears are implanted within the film
typically in a way
that makes clearer
They also argue that the unconscious mind of the the nature of the
Spectator is manifested on the screen things compared.
Psychoanalytical theory allows us to question the
relationship between reality and fantasy
Can you identify anything we could define as:
unconscious desires or fears, within Vertigo?
10. Dreams
Hitchcock uses the dream sequence to highlight
many of the subconscious desires, fears and
fantasies of Scottie
Watch the dream sequence and make notes on the
following:
What desires / fears / fantasies can you identify?
How are they constructed?
What do we learn about the character of Scottie
from this sequence?
11. Sigmund Freud
In his ‘Structural Model of the Psyche’, Freud identified three parts of the
psychic apparatus that control our conscious and sub-conscious decisions
Ego: seeks to please the id’s drive in
a way that will bring benefit in the
ID: a part of our long term. It separates what is real
personality that and what is not. Its purpose is to
contains our basic find a balance between our basic
Super-Ego: aims for
drives – seeking drives (ID) and what is socially
perfection and strives
pleasure and avoiding acceptable (Super-Ego)
to act in a socially
pain. It can be split in acceptable way. It is
to two distinct our conscience and
categories: prohibits our drives.
It makes us feel guilt
The desire for Sex and etc
Pleasure
Super-ego controls
The desire for death our sense of right and
and aggression wrong and guilt
12. Oedipus Complex
The concept begins in early childhood as the Boy develops
love for his mother
This bond is tied to the fixation on the mother’s breast,
it’s role as a source of nourishment, the mother as the
font of love and caring etc...
At the same time the male child begins to identify with his
father, the figure parallel to him in terms of biological sex
As a result of the father’s appearance, the child gives up
his love / desire for the mother.
He represses his feeling for the mother (primal
repression) because he fears the father will punish him
(castration)
13. Oedipus Complex in film
One of the ways we can identify the Oedipus complex in
cinema is by considering the following question:
What does it mean to become a man?
The formation of a ‘male’ identity is constructed through
acting, the micro-elements, and the script etc...
We can analyse the male characters and ask the question:
How does he channel his sexual desire away
from his mother towards his ‘mother
substitute’?
14. Oedipus Complex in film
Using your handouts create a list of scenes that you
think develop the representation of Scotties
masculinity
How is the identity of Scotties masculinity
constructed in Vertigo?
Identify key scenes were Scottie’s male identity is
constructed
For example
During the opening sequence Scotty is constructed as
a strong, heroic police officer. Police officers are
symbols of strength and morality – we transfer these
connotations to the character of Scotty
15.
16. Gradiva Novel
Gradiva is a novel written by Wilhelm Jensen, first
published in Germany in 1903
It was inspired by a Roman bas-relief of the same
name and became the basis for Freud’s famous 1907
study ‘Delusion and Dream in Jensen’s Gradiva’
Using your handout – read the synopsis of the story
and complete the following task:
Link the events from Gradiva to similar events in
Vertigo
17. Gradiva Novel
Freud identified an Oedipal conflict taking place with the
novel of Gradiva and used it as a basis for his study
18. Oedipus Complex in Vertigo
Freud identified an Oedipal conflict taking place with
the novel of Gradiva and used it as a basis for his
study
As a result we are able to apply the Oedipus complex
to Vertigo
There are three key character types associated with
the Oedipus complex – they are :
The Father / Guardian Figure
The Mother
The Child
Using the space on your handout – link the three
character role to characters in the film
19. Gavin Elster’s relationship to Madeline initially
appears to Scottie to be that of a father/guaridan
figure (as well as husband).
Frued claims that women attached to other men /
father figures – husband, fiance, friend - often are
especially desirable love-objects
From this we can infer special reasons why Madeline
appeals to Scottie, and what she means to him.
When Scottie finally looses his love, it is due to the
intervention of another shadowy mother figure –
The NUN!
20. Concerning an Oedipal syndrome in Vertigo, we may sense how Gavin Elster’s
relation to Madeleine/Judy initially appears to Scottie to be that of a (fairly
amenable) father/guardian, as well as that of a husband. On another
occasion, Freud would note that in some male fantasies, a woman already
attached to another man - husband, fiancé, or friend - is an especially
desirable love-object.11 Thus we may infer special reasons for why
Madeleine/Judy appeals to Scottie, and what she means to him. But there
may be others. When Scottie finally loses his beloved, it’s due to the
intervention of a shadowy mother-figure (about whom I’ll say more below).
Freud emphasises how Hanold succeeds for a time in keeping Gradiva/Zöe at
a certain distance. By identifying her with a classical setting, as for instance in
an early dream when he sees her enter the temple of Apollo, Hanold puts her
on a pedestal. But now, at Pompeii, a turning-point is reached. He rests his
hand on hers, ostensibly to test her corporeal reality yet clearly with an
underlying erotic motive. You think of how in Vertigo, sitting before the fire in
his apartment, Scottie places his hand on Madeleine’s as if by accident when
he reaches for her coffee-cup ...
21. Psychoanalysis & Film
Psychoanalytical film theory developed in the
1960’s and 70’s and analyses films from the
perspective of Psychoanalysis
The theory states that the film viewer is seen as
the viewing subject (spectator) of a “gaze” that is
largely constructed by the film itself
What is on screen is the object of the subjects
desire
Viewing subjects (spectators) are offered particular
identifications with a character (usually the lead
male character) from which to watch – in the case
of Vertigo – this character is Scottie
22. Lacan
The most prominent Psychoanalytical film theorists is
Jacques Lacan – he stated that film spectatorship is an
identification process – that is similar to the mirror
stage of Psychology that takes place between the ages
of 6 – 18 months
At this age human infants become interested in their
reflection and devote a lot of time to exploring the
connection between their bodies and their images
The Mirror Stage is when the concept is ‘I’ is first
developed – at a point before a language or symbolic
order is present
The Mirror Stage establishes what Lacan terms the
‘Imaginary Order’
23. 3 Registers of Human Reality
Symbolic
Reality
Imaginary Real
24. The imaginary
A fundamental stage of psychic development by which
the human subject creates fantasy images of both
himself and his ideal object of desire
This development is not restricted to childhood, but
remains with us for our entire lives
